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Just when we thought it may be on the way out, EA confirms work on three new Need for Speed games for 2009. Speaking to Eurogamer EA confirmed that the NfS franchise will continue in 2009 with Need for Speed: Shift on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC, and PSP, Need for Speed: Nitro on Nintendo DS and Wii, and finally Need for Speed: World Online for the Asian PC market. "Need for Speed: Shift will be made by Slightly Mad Studios of GT Legends and GTR 2 fame, with help from EA Black Box producer Michael Mann and EA Games Europe bigwig Patrick Soderlund. Shift focuses on simulation racing - not just the realistic movement of cars, but also driver behaviour." Nitro will be developed by EA Montreal and will be an arcade racer with a focus on "vibrant, eye-catching visuals." World Online will be developed by Black Box and has the possibility of launching in the west if it does well in the Asian market. It will let you pick your car and "take on the rest of the world....

Sony and PopCap games have announced an agreement to bring five hit games to the Playstation Network. The first of the five is Bejeweled 2, and is available now in the United States for $9.99, and soon in other regions. Soon to follow are Zuma, Heavy Weapon, Peggle, and Feeding Frenzy. “As leaders in their genre, PopCap is to casual games what SOE is to MMOs,” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “Being the second largest publisher on the PlayStation Network, SOE is excited that this partnership will expand the PlayStation®Network catalog with awesome casual titles that players of all types can enjoy.” Bejeweled 2 Features Include: - PlayStation®Network Trophies! - PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) Remote Play - Stunning 3D special effects and HD resolution (up 1080p). - Explosive new pieces: power gems, hyper cubes and time bombs! - Four ways to play: Classic, Action, Puzzle and Endless modes - Explore a galaxy of handcrafted puzzles in Puzzle mode. - Play for eternity...

Ubisoft has announced that Prince of Persia will be getting new DLC on February 26th for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The new content entitled Epilogue continues the story of the Prince and Elika with new features. "- New Region: The Underground Palace – A corrupted underground palace from which the Prince and Elika need to escape in a new epic journey. - New Power: Energize – Reconstruct destroyed areas of the environment to create a path and rush through it before it vanishes. - New high pace: The new trap challenge – The Prince and Elika will face more cunning foes, cleverer traps and level design, adding more to the difficulty level in over 3 hours of gameplay. - New Attack: Sprinting Clash – A duel move that lets you or the enemy trigger a sprint attack, charging towards each other, clashing your weapons fiercely. - New Unlockable Skins: Finish the game and unlock exclusively, from the early development of the game, the Prototype characters of the Prince and Elika."

New CG and gameplay footage of the much anticipated Final Fantasy XIII.

Konami has announced that a new Bomb game mode is coming to Metal Gear Online starting tomorrow (January 27th). The game mode is a typical bomb gametype in which teams must protect or destroy a certain area on the map either protecting their team and allowing them to plant the bomb or defusing the bomb with a cooling solution.

Capcom has released a new Street Fighter IV trailer showing off all of the characters. enjoy!

EA announced today that for the first time in the series' history Command & Conquer will be coming to the Playstation 3 in March. The Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Ultimate Edition will bring everything that the regular edition brought last year and will also utilize BluRay for the special bonus content. The bonus content will include: • Five exciting new multiplayer maps • Behind the scenes videos and trailers, including Raising the Iron Curtain Documentary, From Pens to Pixels, the Girls of Red Alert 3, Bloopers & Outtakes, the Red Alert 3 Remix and many more! • PS3 exclusive Command & Conquer TV programming, including PS3-dedicated BattleCast™ PrimeTime and a special episode of Command School focused on tips, tricks and strategies from the development team • In-depth profiles on all the Red Alert 3 Units • The official Red Alert 3 soundtrack Check out the PS3 launch trailer.

Playstation Blog has broke the news that the Playstation 3 firmware update, version 2.60, will be coming soon. The update will bring a few new updates but is focused on media with a new photo gallery application. The photo gallery allows users to organize photos in groups using various criteria including everything from the camera used to take the photos to face in the photos. Check out the video below for a run-through of the photo gallery. Also in this update is guest access to the Playstation Store, and DivX 3.11 support.

Eidos and Io Interactive have announced Mini Ninjas for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and PC. The folks who brought you Kane & Lynch as well as Agent 47 now bring a bit softer game coming this fall. "Prepare yourself for a Ninja adventure like you have never seen before! Join Hiro, the smallest hero on the biggest adventure, as he embarks on an epic and electrifying quest to restore harmony to a world on the brink of chaos. Use your skills and mighty Ninja training to battle a magical army of evil Samurai. Harness the power of your Kuji magic and utilize the special skills of your Mini Ninja friends as you travel through a perilous world to reach the final confrontation with the Evil Samurai Warlord in his Fortress of Doom."

Flower is a game that is very interesting, both in concept and design. If you have seen any media on the game you know that this game is more like poetry in motion, a simple relaxing game of spreading flowers. Good news is the game now has a release date, February 12 on PSN. For those of you who have not seen the game, check out this special new footage of gameplay courtesy of Playstation Blog. Also make sure to support great arcade games and pick it up on the 12th.

Capcom has officially unveiled the Resident Evil 5 collector's edition for the west, and it is massive. The edition will launch for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 for $89.99. For your $90 you get quite a bit of goods. Encompassed in a special steel case is the game, bonus disc with special features (including the making of RE5), a nice Tricell messenger bag, a Kijuju necklace, BSAA patch, and finally a Chris Redfield figurine. Pre-orders for the collector's edition are available now, so go start paying off that $90!

There are many, many people looking forward to the release of the next in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XIII. Even more so now that the 360 version is coming along with. That being said gamers in the West will have to wait until 2010. Speaking to Reuters Square Enix's Yoichi Wada confirmed that the Japanese release of FF XIII will be later this year, but that western gamers will have to wait until 2010.

Ubisoft and Techland have teamed up once again to take us to the wild west. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is set to be a prequel to the original Call of Juarez. The game takes players from "Civil War-era Georgia to the Aztec ruins of Mexico." “Call of Juarez was well received by gamers and critics,” said John Parkes, Marketing Director at Ubisoft EMEA. “We’re confident this new collaboration with Techland will bring an even bigger and better adventure to fans of shooters and the lawless Wild West.” The game will release later this year on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

There is a whole host of new information about DLC and patches for various games today. Below I have outlined the who, what, and when for your information. Fallout 3 - Patch out today, DLC "Operation Anchorage" out January 27th for 800 MSP or $10. Fable 2 - DLC "Knothole Island" out today. Mirror's Edge - DLC out January 29th for 800 MSP or $10. Left 4 Dead - Patch coming this week for PC. Castle Crashers - DLC "King Pack" out Wednesday for 160 MSP. "Two New Characters! Open Faced Gray Knight and the King. New Weapons! NG Lollipop, NG Gold Sword and the King’s Mace (equipped with the King). New Animal Orb- Pelter, the Seal. New Magic! King’s Healing (Gold Knife, Healing Magic and the Kingly Jump)." There you have it, a bunch of new stuff to keep you busy this month.

Criterion just keeps the DLC coming for Burnout Paradise. Just announce, the next pack from the developer will be the Legendary Car Pack. This pack features 4 cars from various media that have made themselves known and become legendary. The first is the 88 special, or better known to fans of Back to the Future as the time traveling DeLorean. As you can see, this car hovers so it will be very interesting to try it out. Second is another monumental movie car. Criterion calls it the Manhattan Spirit, but it is better known in the company of the Ghostbusters as the Ecto-1. Third is the Carson Nighthawk, or what resembles Kip from Knightrider. Finally we have the Cavalry Bootlegger. Hit L3 (PS3) and you will hear the one of a kind horn that tells you this is none other than the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard.

Sony has announced that EA Sports is coming to the Playstation Home beta this spring. The EA Sports Complex and will feature exclusive EA Sports multiplayer games, leaderboards, and trailers for upcoming games. "“We’re proud to support the PlayStation Home Beta with a very robust offering from EA SPORTS,” said Peter Moore, president of EA SPORTS. “As part of our continued commitment to the connected experience and the digitization of our business, the EA SPORTS Complex is a rich new online environment that presents a compelling and immersive social gaming experience for the global sports audience.”" Check out the video below for a quick preview.

News out of the Playstation Blog today, content for Home will be releasing later this week. First up is a Red Bull space. In this area (accessed through your PDS/Map) will be able to compete in various themed events. This week's event lets you hop in a Red Bull air race plane and compete against other users. Secondly, some new clothing will be added to the mall. Diesel and Ligne Roset will now have their own stores in the mall and a few cool Resident Evil t-shirts will be available. Those who pre-order Killzone 2 from Amazon will get a code to unlock Killzone outfits for your avatar.

Sony has released a bit of news on the next installment in the "MLB: The Show" franchise for 2009. The game is set to release "in time for spring training." Hit the jump for a giant fact sheet full of new information about the game which will launch on Playstation 3, Playstation 2, and Playstation Portable. One of the cool feature was outlined by Playstation Blog. It allows users to upload and cut snippets of their favorite songs to use as walk-up music for players. There is a load of new information following the jump! FEATURES • Road to the Show 3.0 (All platforms) – Once again MLB 09 The Show is the only game where fans can play offense and defense from a custom-created player’s perspective. This year, Road to the Show includes interactive training, a new steal/ lead-off system, updated presentations, and coach interactions. Interactive training will consist of a set of mini-games designed to improve a player’s ability and performance in various areas of baseb...

Eidos has released some new Batman: Arkham Asylum screens for your viewing pleasure. They have also confirmed that Kevin Conroy will take up the role of Batman and Mark Hamill will be the voice talent for the Joker in the game. Both appeared on Batman: The Animated Series.